In the conventional arrangement, a bass drum is supported by the base of the pedal assembly for the drum and a pair of feet, normally referred to as "spurs". The spurs are individually and separately mounted on the lower part of the drum shell. The bass drum is sometimes provided with an internal brace, generally referred to as the "stabilizer". The stabilizer comprises a single rod-like element extending downwardly from the top of the drum shell to the bottom. It is also usual practice to mount on the base drum shell means to support a pair of smaller drums above the shell. These smaller drums are generally referred to as "tom-toms". With this conventional arrangement, vigorous playing transmits forces to the bottom of the shell. These forces tend to flex the shell since the opposing force is supplied by the spurs and these spurs are not rigidly fixed to the stabilizer. As a result, the bass drum has a tendency to "walk". Furthermore, the smaller drums or tom-toms and other accessories mounted on the top of the drum shell move about enough to introduce uncertainty into the strike point locations and the timing intervals of the rhythm.
The present invention is directed to an assembly which integrates the spurs and stabilizer. These elements may be further integrated with the tom-tom holder, if present. The assembly of the present invention rigidifies the bass drum shell against flexing and side-to-side rocking thereby minimizing "walking" of the bass drum and shaking of the tom-toms and other accessories mounted to the bass drum shell.
The structure of the present invention also renders the bass drum shell more rigid. Also the stabilizer is no longer located in the center of the drum shell where a recording microphone would normally be placed. Thus tube noise from the stabilizer is reduced during recording. In the assembly of the present invention the spurs are fully adjustable in an axial direction and the stabilizing elements are also adjustable to accommodate for expansion and contraction of the drum shell.